


Peter Parker: Intern Extraordinaire

by Fairin_Eclipse



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gender Dysphoria, Hurt Peter Parker, Intern Peter Parker, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peter Parker Has Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter-centric, Stark Industries, Trans Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:33:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21965737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairin_Eclipse/pseuds/Fairin_Eclipse
Summary: Where Pepper discovers Peter first- and he proceeds to make her and the entire company fall in love with him.------Basically, the Actual Mom Pepper Potts fic no one asked for. Tony will show up later, but this will initially focus on Pep and Peter's relationship. Peter gets hired on at Stark Industries due to a series of fortunate events, meets Pep, solves problems left and right, eventually meets Stark and the others (both as Peter and as Spider-Man), and soon has the most powerful people in the world wrapped around his little finger.(tags will be updated as characters are added)------Thanks to my beta reader (and bestie) Amheline
Relationships: Peter Parker & Pepper Potts
Comments: 50
Kudos: 851





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic starts roughly six months after the death of Uncle Ben (therefore he’s been Spider-Man for ~six months), and mostly follows the cinematic timeline up until the end of Age of Ultron. Ragnarok never happened, and Bruce never got lost in space. Thor is off world. Avengers/Stark tower is still used, but mostly as SI headquarters, Bruce and Pepper live there, the Avengers compound is the main home of the non-rouge Avengers.

Peter Parker was not having a good day. He had stayed out late patrolling, gotten detention for being late and been given an extra assignment by not one, but two, of his teachers, which didn't help with the homework he was already behind on. Apparently he wasn't "applying" himself, and the extra-credit work was an olive branch to overlook all his dozing off in classes, or something. It wasn't like he could exactly help that criminals were up at weird hours, but it’s not like Peter could go all "excuse me I was saving the city, again, sorry I'm a bit distracted." Needless to say, he needed caffeine, and lots of it, if he was going to catch up and still have time for a quick patrol. 

Peter entered his favorite coffee shop, a small hole-in-the-wall shop, the old sign out front reading "Jav top", the 'a' and 'S' having been gone since he was small. He entered, getting himself a redeye and looking to sit down when he met eyes with someone in his normal spot- a worn down couch shoved in a corner with a large coffee table in front of it. He smiled at the woman, who returned in kind before turning back to the massive pile of papers and.. equations? 

He edged nearer, before plopping down in a chair close enough to peek at her work, trying to be inconspicuous and failing dramatically. The woman glanced back up at him, an amused grin on her face.

"You interested in science, kid?"

"I uh.. I mean yeah I just.. sorry if I'm disrupting you.. I can move.." Peter reached for his bag sheepishly, not wanting to disturb her, but before he could move she patted the couch next to her.

"I could use a break anyways, if you wanted to have a quick peek. I'm Kami, by the way."

"Peter.. uh.. nice to meet you Kami.."

He took a seat next to her, plopping his overstuffed book bag by his feet as he took a long drag of his coffee. He quickly scanned the notes, tilting his head in thought. "Is this some kind of polymer? I mean.. uh.. do you mind if I try something?"

Kami looked at him, the awe on her face unnoticed as he got wrapped up in mental calculations, before snapping out of her shock and silently handing the kid a pencil. 

Several of mutterings and scribbling later, a huge grin overtook Peter's face, "I think I figured it out! I mean, obviously you'd have to test it.. but the sides of the formula were just slightly unbalanced, so like, I added in a stabilizing element to the one side and a few numbers later.. oOf!" Peter cut off as an equally ecstatic Kami wrapped him in a huge hug, before quickly jumping back.

"Sorry, sorry, should've asked before hugging you.. Just Peter, you're a genius! My teams been working on this for weeks, I just got transferred the issue last week and you show up and solve it in minutes! You don't know how much time you've saved us.." She trailed off, noticing Peter's red face. "You okay hun?"

"Yeah I uh.. just it was nothing special, really.. I mess around with stuff like this for fun.. is all.."

"Peter, trust me, you're amazing. I uh.. is there someway I can contact you? So we can meet up and finish this conversation some other time? I hate to ditch, but I should go test this sooner than later.."

"I uh, sure" Peter was a bit hesitant about giving his name to a stranger, but she was obviously a huge nerd, and she had let him play with her project. He grabbed the pencil back up and scribbled his name and phone number under the solution. "Just text me anytime.. I mean not like anytime, anytime, I try to sleep occasionally.. and I uh.." He trailed off at her amused grin, "See yah around.."

Kami kept grinning, bundling her papers into her briefcase, "See yah, Peter."

He watched her walk out, turning back to his abandoned coffee and homework, a small smile gracing his face in spite of the long night ahead of him.

* * *

Pepper Potts was not having a good day. She had stayed up late dealing with Tony, been told to push up deadlines for not one, but two, of the projects R&D was currently working on which certainly didn't help with the deadlines they were already behind on. Apparently she wasn't "applying" herself, and this was the board members' way of pushing her, or something. She didn't let their opinions stand for long, but despite being CEO it wasn't like she could exactly help that the scientists had hit wall after wall, but it's not like Pepper could go all "excuse me I actually have no say in how fast things get done and, again, sorry I'm a bit distracted trying to keep everything running in the first place." Needless to say, she needed a break , badly, if she was going to be here past hours yet again trying to find some solution to the plethora of issues that had been unceremoniously dumped on her plate. 

Pepper entered her office, going immediately to the couch sitting against the back wall and sinking down into it with a grateful sigh. She didn't have long to relax, maybe a half-hour at most if Alex could cover and divert calls until her next meeting. She leaned back, briefly relishing in the silence until the sound of frantic footsteps approaching roused her, quickly followed by another, softer pair.

The door to her office burst open, Dr. Kamini entering with a huge grin on her face, followed closely by a frantic Alex. 

"Sorry Ms.Potts, I tried to tell her you were on break but she ran right past and-" 

Pepper waved Alex off, "I'm sure there's a good reason for this, please just go back and take care of the phones." After the door closed behind Alex, Pepper looked at the doctor expectantly, "Sorry about that Kamini, Alex means well. What's going on?"

"Its solved! Project 461, it's solved! And by a kid no less!" She set her briefcase down, shuffling through the papers until she found the one Peter had edited, handing it over to Pepper, who looked over the pencil scribbles skeptically.

"You said a kid did this?" She couldn't help but allow a little doubt to leak into her voice, this was beyond college level material, even with her basic knowledge it was mostly gibberish, but it certainly looked like a solution, of some kind.

"Yeah! Kid couldn't have been older than 15, but I'd wager a guess he was younger than that. Peter, he said his name was. I was going over the notes in a coffee shop, a redacted version, don't worry, and kid looked interested so I thought, what the hell, and let him look at it, thinking he'll be totally stumped, but no. Pepper, he took one look, asked for a pencil and less than ten minutes later he had it solved! And acted like it was nothing! I don't think he even realized what he had done."

A small smile made its way onto Pepper’s face as she listened to her ramble, “Peter, huh? Tell me more about him.”


	2. Chapter 2

  
  


Peter rubbed his hands on his pants nervously, trying to rid the clammy feeling that had persisted ever since he set foot out the door that morning. He had a meeting, at Stark Industries.  _ Stark Industries.  _ And if that wasn’t enough, it was with Pepper Potts herself, the world renowned, MJ-endorsed, bad-ass, Pepper Potts. He had been skeptical enough, when Aunt May received the phone call, and still was half-expecting it all to be an elaborate hoax, security guards escorting him off property, or worse, arrested for trespassing or something. (He knew logically, that the public was allowed into the lobby of Stark Tower, and even if he had been the victim of a prank, he wouldn’t be kicked out unless he did something to deserve it, but he wasn’t about to tell his anxiety to start being logical.)

Stark Tower was far more imposing from street level, and he almost gave into his nerves altogether, but pushed past it and entered the lobby, slipping his headphones off. He looked around the massive lobby, relaxing minutely when he spotted the receptionist desk. Peter approached, looking at the man nervously. 

“Hi uh.. I have a meeting?” 

The man looked up at him, a soft smile washing over his face, “Peter Parker?” He nodded. “We were sent a memo, not everyday a kid gets a meeting with Pepper Potts.” His voice had a light, joking tone to it, but it only served to make him more nervous. “Did you bring an ID?”

“Um yeah, uh..” Peter fumbled around in his pocket, producing his school ID card, which, thankfully, had his preferred name on it. He handed it over, and the man scanned it into the system. 

“You should be good to go, Mr. Parker.” The receptionist handed Peter back his ID, along with a plastic ID card on a lanyard that read VISITOR on it. “Make sure you keep this around your neck, and you can go through the security gates through the left of me. They’ll scan you to make sure you don’t have any dangerous items on your person, but there’s no need to take off your shoes or anything like that.” He winked playfully, and Peter granted him a small smile and a thank you, before proceeding through security and up the elevator. 

Arriving at Ms. Potts' floor, he looked around briefly before spotting yet another secretary. She, um, they? Were on the phone, so he stood awkwardly nearby until they had finished. 

The person - Alex, their nameplate so unhelpfully supplied - looked up at him with a smile. “You must be Peter, the genius-kid who caught Ms.Potts' eye?”

“Um.. I guess? I mean, I am Peter, uh, Peter Parker..” He trailed off, mentally kicking himself for how awkward he was acting, “I uh, don’t mean to be rude but um.. What are your pronouns? It’s just your nameplate says Alex, and like, that could go either way and I don’t want to offend you accidentally or anything..” 

Alex’s face lit up, “I use they/them! Thanks for asking, most people don’t bother and assume one way or the other. What are yours, if you don’t mind?”

“I use he/him.. And yeah, people like to judge on first glance, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately.” They smiled fondly at the boy, “Ms. Potts is ready for you, so go ahead and go in whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you..” He walked past her desk to the imposing door that read “Pepper Potts, CEO” and knocked gently before pushing the door open.

“Ah, you must be Peter! I’ve heard a lot about you, come in, take whatever seat’s comfortable for you.” Ms. Potts greeted him with a smile, turning away from her computer and gesturing at the chairs in front of her desk. 

He smiled nervously and walked over, extending his hand like his aunt had told him to, “It’s very nice to meet you Ms. Potts, I’m uh.. Peter Parker.. But you already knew that.. right..” She shook his hand, amusement playing across her face. Once he had settled down into a chair, she clapped her hands gently.

“So, do you know why I called you here, Peter?”

“I uh.. My aunt said you saw some work of mine? And it caught your interest? She wouldn’t really tell me more than that.. Sorry.. ” He trailed off, his hands tapping a pace on his leg as he struggled to sit still.

“Well, your aunt was right, I did see some work of yours. A formula you solved, actually.” She pushed a piece of paper over to him, the pen markings covered by his familiar scribbles. He looked at the document, recognition quickly dawning on his face.

“Oh god.. I uh.. Thought she was a college student, well, not that a college student can’t work here, but uh, like I thought it was homework, I’m sorry I didn’t mess anything important up did I? I mean.. I’m sorry.. I uh..” He gasped in a breath, oh god what if he had messed up some big important project or seen something he wasn’t supposed to or-

“Peter, breathe, you’re not in trouble. You  _ solved  _ the formula. Dr.Rasmussen was overjoyed, you helped her team complete their project ahead of schedule and cleared a major roadblock. I called you here to offer you a position, should you want one, as thanks.” Ms. Potts explained patiently, unfazed by his rambling.

“A job?” 

“A job. Sadly I can’t offer much, as you haven’t graduated high school yet, but Dr.Rasmussen offered to take you on as a personal assistant, should you be interested.”

“I um, yes! I mean, yes, I would be interested, thank you.” He stumbled to correct himself, trying to act as professional as he could, given he had already irrevocably embarrassed himself once. Pepper just continued explaining the opportunity, and he listened dutifully, pulling out a notebook halfway to scribble down information he might end up forgetting. After several minutes of back and forth, however, the dreaded question reared its head.

“Do you have your social security number on you? I’ll need you to fill some forms out, and take a copy home for your guardian to sign.” 

“I.. yes.. I um.. But uh.. My name won’t match on it.. Cause I uh.. I mean, I don’t go by my birth name, so that’s why it doesn’t match.. Is all..” He mumbled the last part, preparing himself for the inevitable questions that came up every time he brought up his preferred name, but surprisingly, she just nodded. 

“Yes, your aunt mentioned that when she was contacted. We have policies in place to protect staff members such as yourself - all internal documentation will use your preferred name, except in medically or legally relevant cases.”

“Really? I mean, thank you, Ms.Potts” 

She smiled, “No problem, Peter. Alex has the paperwork waiting for you, if you have any questions just let them know. I look forward to seeing you around.”

“You too, thank you again Ms.Potts.” 

* * *

"May, May!" Peter burst through the front door ecstatically, barely managing to control his strength in his rush. The door closed loudly behind him, as his aunt rushed to see what the ruckus was about. "I got a job! Well, not guaranteed, but, like, Ms.Potts offered me a position as a personal assistant, to  _ the  _ Dr.Rasmussen, and like,  _ Ms.Potts _ ! But anyways I have to do a job shadow first, see if I'm the right fit or whatever and it's this Saturday and you gotta sign these papers-" He was cut off by a huge hug, May beaming at him.

"I'm so proud of you hun, but you kinda lost me after the first sentence, slow down a little and hand over those papers." Her eyes crinkled with amusement as he picked the story back up from the beginning, the excitement still palpable in his voice.

* * *

Spider-Man swung to yet another mugging, but Peter Parker was somewhere else entirely. He had spent the hours after May left for her shift researching Dr. Rasmussen and Stark Industries, trying to prepare himself for Saturday. He had heard of the infamous R&D head scientist before, but hadn’t taken the time to read any of her research before today, and Queens didn’t rest because he found a  _ really  _ good research article to obsess over. He let his spidey-sense take over, ducking, dodging, punching. A few webs later, a small note for the police, and yet one more ungrateful victim. He really was tired of the same old, night after night.

Spider-Man couldn’t complain, no, he was a hero. A hero who didn’t have the luxury of studying the uses of 3D printing technology in the medical field, a hero who needed to use more practical medical skills. Putting band-aids on scraped knees for lost children, tying tourniquets and holding pressure on wounds he was too late to prevent, that was the medical work he needed to do. Hell, he probably knew more about giving himself stitches then he did about sex-ed (thanks health class). 

  
Spider-Man landed on a rooftop, and Peter put his head in his hands. It was still early, he couldn’t afford to take off for at least another hour or two. He didn’t want his personal issues to cause harm to someone else. He knew he couldn’t save everyone. But as Peter Parker, no, as  _ Spider-Man _ , he couldn’t forgive himself if the one night he went home early was the one night he was desperately needed. So he put aside his thoughts of the weekend to come, and swung back into his city letting the thrill of the cool night air clear his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Saturday came in the way most days come, too quickly and too slowly all at once, and for the second time in his life, Peter found himself approaching Stark Tower. He stepped into the lobby and headed through security and up the elevator, using his shiny new employee ID. Granted, he still had barely clearance, but he still  _ had  _ clearance. He exited on floor 75, where he had been instructed to meet Dr.Rasmussen, looking around for some sort of indicator of where he was supposed to be. 

“Dr.Rasmussen’s office is to your right, Mr.Parker.” 

Peter startled, looking around for whomever had managed to startle him before his brain caught up to what was happening - the voice had come from a speaker in the ceiling.

“Um, thank you uh..”

“I’m FRIDAY, the AI that runs the building. Sorry for startling you, Mr.Parker.”

“Uh its okay FRIDAY, thanks..”

“You’re welcome.”

He turned to the right and started walking, and sure enough, happened upon Dr.Rasmussen’s office. He knocked, opening the door at a soft “come in”. He entered, stopping as he processed the woman in front of him. 

“Wait.. uh..  _ you’re _ Dr.Rasmussen?” Seeing her tense up, he quickly corrected himself, “It’s just, like, I thought you were a college student and I was so informal and..”

A smile snuck its way onto Dr.Rasmussen’s face, “It’s okay Peter, you can still call me Kami if you want, although I do ask you refer to me as Dr.Kamini in front of the other staff.”

“I uh, I mean, if that’s what you prefer, Dr.Kamini ma’am.”

“Just Dr.Kamini is fine Peter, now how about we get to that tour of yours? I usually do rounds on Saturdays to check on everyone’s projects and log the progress for the board members to check over, so I can show you the layout of the department at the same time.” She picked up a tablet off her desk, handing it over to him. “You can take notes on this, and once we get to the first station I’ll show you how I normally make the progress logs. I won’t make you fill the logs out today, as you’re here to observe, but there’s no point if you don’t learn a little something while you’re here, hm?” She grabbed her own tablet off the desk, not waiting for a response. “Let’s head off, we have a schedule to keep after all.”

Peter nodded briefly, hurrying after her as she took off towards the first station, briefly telling him which direction the bathrooms were, and pointing out which hallway was labs, and which was offices. Entering the first hall of labs, he briefly stopped to absorb the view, glass walls on the front of each expansive room, workstations and technology he had only ever dreamed of handling - it was enough to make his inner nerd drool. He quickly snapped out of it as he realized he was losing the doctor, hurrying to catch up. The pair entered the first lab, the nameplate on the door simply reading “R-1”. Dr. Kamini approached a cluttered workstation, clearing her throat to gain the attention of the young man sitting there.

“Dr.Kamini! I wasn’t expecting you until.. Oh crap is it that late already.. Sorry..” 

“Don’t worry about it Adam. I’d like you to meet Peter, he’s going to be shadowing me today. Peter, this is Adam Kramar, he’s one of our college interns.”

“Nice to meet yah man.” Adam waved awkwardly, his hands covered in stained rubber gloves.

“Go ahead and run through your updates like normal, I’ll be showing Peter how to log so I might need you to repeat a few things.” Dr. Kamini turned to Peter, showing him the proper application to open for the progress logs, pulling the same program up on her tablet.

“Right on. I still haven’t made any progress on the processing issue, but I have managed to get the power input down by quite a bit…”

* * *

Several stations and several documents full of notes later, and Peter was starting to feel antsy. It wasn’t that the projects weren’t interesting - no, every project was fascinating in its own way. It was just so.. clerical. He wasn’t learning about the nitty-gritty details, he wasn’t fixing anything. It was all, x is working, but x is still acting up, I need more time for x, the funding should be increased due to x, and so on, so forth. Dr.Kamini, for her part, had the patience of a saint. She listened to each complaint, explained patiently why no, they couldn’t divert funding, and sorry, but the deadline's moved up again, giving both praise and criticism in such a fluid manner that no one took offense. It was frankly amazing. Peter, on the other hand, was constantly being distracted, with so much input around him he’s amazed he lasted this long, honestly.

It wasn’t as if he was  _ trying _ to hear every little thing, or see the equation on the board across the room, it was just a lot harder to ignore the constant noise when there were so many interesting things to hear. This is why, when he was meant to be taking notes, he instead focused on the small mutter of “por Dios*” from the station behind them. He glanced briefly at Dr.Kamini, who was busy explaining something to one of the interns, before giving into temptation and turning to the source of the noise. 

A young woman in a lab coat was glaring at a set of chemicals on a smart-board, still muttering under her breath. He took half a step closer, trying to get a better look, before he realized he recognized what she was working on. 

“Is that Dr.Rasmussen’s bio polymer? The one that’s theoretically going to be able to replicate and grow artificial tissue?”

“Theoretically is the problem, she finally found a solution to the binding issue, but now it’s collapsing every time we try to print it - we might as well be back in the goop stage at this rate.” She didn’t look up, glaring at the formula with renewed passion.

“Did you factor in the added weight of the additional chemical?” He leaned in closer, his eyes widening, “Wait, this is.. So the polymer I fixed wasn’t the full formula, that would explain why you’re having issues..”

“The formula you fixed?” The woman looked up, taking in the kid in front of her, “Wait, you’re the one who made the corrections on this? You’re just a kid..”

“So I’ve been told..” He barely processed what she had said, already making the corrections in his head. Before she could stop him, he swiped a stylus and quickly corrected the rest of the formula, blending together his initial patch with the full formula seamlessly. “There we go.. Sorry about that.. I probably gave you guys a headache over that one..”

“Who are you..?” She stared at his work, “Qué genio*...”

“Peter!” Dr.Kamini called over, “What are you doing over there? It’s not much of a job shadow if you aren’t shadowing, I know there’s plenty of interesting things but try not to let it distract you, we’ll get to everyone eventually.”

“Sorry..” He turned to head back to where she was standing, but the scientist he had helped held out a hand to stop him.

“Don’t get mad at him, Dr.Kamini, he was helping me out, well better than that actually, I think he fixed the issue we were having with the latest bio polymer.” 

Dr.Kamini headed over to the two of them, glancing at the smart-board, “Isn’t this the formula that he fixed for me the other day? I checked over his work before sending it back, it was all correct..”

“Well yes, but the portion you were correcting was only a part of the whole, ma’am. So when we added it in the full formula the tissue kept collapsing, I was going to mention it when you came over today, as my team was struggling to find a solution that worked.”

Peter interrupted meekly, “I’m really sorry, if I had known that formula was a part of a greater whole I would have factored things the right way in the first place.. ” Great, the formula he had ‘fixed’ had just led to more issues, exactly the impression he was trying to give on his first day.

“No my cerebrito*, you’ve still saved us months of work. If you hadn’t found your mistake we would have to start back from square one.”

Dr.Kamini gave Peter a warm smile, “Arya’s right, Peter. This isn’t on you, if anything it’s on me - frankly, I didn’t even think about the fact that your corrections might not match the work they already had accomplished. Just goes to show, we all make mistakes. Now as much as I’d love to let you keep solving things, we have a schedule to maintain.” 

Peter fell into step behind her, offering a small smile and wave to Arya on his way out. He fell in step behind Dr.Kamini, making sure to focus as best he could on taking notes during the remaining rounds. Soon enough, the day was over and the two of them headed back to her office. After transferring Peter’s notes to her own tablet, and a well needed break for the both of them, Dr.Kamini called him back over to sit by her desk.

“Let’s go over your schedule for the next couple weeks, if that’s okay with you?”

“Yes, I mean, I thought I was going to be shadowing for the first two weeks?” His leg bounced a rhythmic pace as he spoke, despite being on his feet all day his energy only seemed to have increased from having to stay focused for so long.

“That was the original plan, yes, but I think you’d benefit from hands-on experience as opposed to the traditional clerical introduction to the job. We’ve had plenty of exceptions like you in the past, not everyone learns in the same way. Instead of just shadowing me, I’ll assign you a different college intern each time you come in to assist and shadow for the day. You’ll have to document what you do each time and forward it to me, then at the end of the two-week period we’ll meet up again to see where you’ll be placed going forward, if you decide to keep the position at that point.” 

She slid the tablet he had been working on back across the desk to him, now situated in a small travel case, “Keep a hold of this tablet, it’ll allow you to send notes and communicate any non-urgent issues with me. If you have any urgent issues, come find me or tell another senior staff member and they’ll help you out. You full schedule should be sent by tomorrow at the latest, is there anything you have questions on?”

“Um, what happens if I break or lose this.. I don’t really have the money to replace it is all so..” He fiddled with the strap on the bag nervously, he had pretty rotten luck with misplacing things while he was out patrolling, not that he could say as much.

“Well breaking one of our tablets is pretty hard, they’re designed to withstand lab conditions, but if you’re worried about losing it, you’re welcome to take a staff locker on this floor, as it’s the one you’ll be working in mainly to start with. The locks are bio-metric, any open ones will be unlabeled, so just scan your thumb and ID and the locker will be yours. If something does happen, you won’t be charged so long as you report it right away.” 

Peter opened his mouth to respond, but FRIDAY spoke up before he could say anything, “Sorry to interrupt Dr.Kamini, but it appears there’s been a minor fire up in lab T-17.” Her voice almost sounded.. annoyed?

“That’s the third time this week..” Dr. Kamini let out a loud sigh, getting to her feet. “Sorry to end it short, Peter, I’ll review your notes later and email you, I don’t want to make you wait around. FRIDAY, if you could tell Peter how to get to the locker room on this floor please?” She hurried out the door, a murderous look on her face.

“When you’re ready Mr.Parker, simply head left out of the office, and it’s the last door on your right. I’ll lock the door behind you, so try not to forget anything, I can’t let you back in.”

“Thanks FRIDAY.. Um.. do you think maybe you could change my name to Peter in your system? If that’s possible?”

“Sure thing, Peter.”

“Thank you.” He grabbed his things, triple-checking to make sure he didn’t forget anything, and headed for the staff lockers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the positive response so far, it means a lot to me. Regarding updates, I will be attempting to update weekly for now, although that is subject to change in the future - Fairin 
> 
> *Translations:  
> Por Dios- For God’s sake  
> Qué genio- Such genius  
> Cerebrito- Little brainiac  
> (translations done by a friend, please correct me if anything is wrong)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Blatant transphobic behavior, (brief) sexual harassment of a minor, panic attack

“Pepper!” Alex knocked briefly on her door, before rushing in,“What do you know about the security guard that just started a few weeks ago?”

“Um, not much. I don’t interact with the security that much, Happy might know more. Why, what’s going on?” Pepper closed what she was working on, judging by the look of concern plastering Alex’s face, she wasn’t going to get any work done for a while. “Are you okay?”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.” They pulled out their phone, opening a conversation and turning the screen for Pepper to read. “Pete just sent this to me.”

Pepper blinked at the message for a moment, processing what she was reading, “He does know he doesn’t have to use his legal name to enter the building, right?” 

“Obviously not, that’s why I’m worried. Do the security guards even have access to that information?”

“Yes, but to get to it they’d have to be specifically looking, the profile pop-up should use preferred names first.” She glanced up at the ceiling briefly, “FRIDAY, can you pull up any footage containing Mr.Parker and security today? With audio, please.”

_ A video popped up on Pepper’s computer, dated 08:46 that morning. Peter entered the lobby and approached the second security station, pulling his SI badge out to scan. He looked up, as if to greet the security guard, but froze slightly, before plastering a smile on his face. _

_ “Good morning, sir.” He scanned his badge and tried to hurry past, but the guard called out to him. _

_ “Where do you think you’re going, Penny? This is the third time I’ve caught you using the wrong badge, am I going to have to report this to my superiors?”  _

_ Peter froze in his tracks, hesitantly looking at the guard, “Sorry sir, but, this is the only ID badge I have..” _

_ “I still can’t believe you managed to get a fake name on your badge, sweetheart. I can ask ‘em to replace it for 'yah if you ask nicely.” He looked down at Peter, obviously not caring how uncomfortable the boy looked. _

_ “I uh.. Peter is my name.. So it’s not a fake name.. sir.” Peter’s voice is hardly able to be heard at this point in the clip, and FRIDAY silently turned on closed captioning. _

_ “We’ve been over this,  _ Peter _ , if it’s not on your legal documents, then it’s not your name. Anyways, no guy’s gonna want to be with a girl named Peter, so why bother?” He reached across the desk, as if to snatch Peter’s badge, but he shrunk back, slipping the badge around his neck. “Look, I don’t want to get you in trouble, Penny, do you have some other form of ID I can scan in? A school ID, or something?” _

_ “I uh..” The audio fades out, Peter’s voice indistinguishable to even FRIDAY’s mics. Whatever he said caused the guard’s face to twist into anger, obviously not satisfied with the answer. Before anything else could happen, another employee approached and Peter all but runs off, the video cutting. _

Pepper turned to Alex, a cold fire in her eyes, “Cancel my meetings.”

* * *

“Peter, Ms.Potts is requesting you in her office, she says it’s an urgent matter.” 

Peter looked up from his work at FRIDAY’s voice, his mind immediately jumping to panic. First he had to deal with the jerk at security, now the CEO was asking after him? His day couldn’t get any worse. “Um, tell her I’ll be right there. Thanks, FRIDAY.”

He pulled himself to his feet, tossing his tablet in it's case as he headed for the elevators. Luckily, he had been working alone when FRIDAY summoned him, so he didn’t have to deal with the embarrassment of stammering through explaining where he was headed. He entered Ms.Potts’ floor, looking towards Alex only to find them missing from their usual spot. Peter approached Ms. Potts’ office nervously, knocking gently.

“Peter is that you? Please come in.” Peter entered, his anxiety only growing at the serious look on Ms.Potts’ face. “Please, have a seat.”

He approached her desk, perching on the edge of one of the chairs, “Um, did something happen Ms.Potts? I uh.. didn’t mess up something important in one of the formulas or something, did I?”

“Oh, no Peter, this has nothing to do with your work in R&D, you’re doing wonderfully, if the stories I hear are accurate.” She let a small smile slip onto her face, before her voice took on a more serious tone again, “This is concerning security, more specifically your interactions with one of the security guards, Don Rochester.” 

“Um..” He cut off as a loud rap sounded at the door, followed by Mr.Rochester entering.

“You called for me, Ms.Potts?” He took in the room, noticing Peter. “Did Penny do something? She was causing issues again this morning, insisting on using the wrong badge.”

Peter swallowed, but before he could say anything, Pepper fixed a dangerous glare on the man. “ _ Peter _ did nothing wrong.  _ He  _ was using the correct badge this morning, just as he was using the correct badge the other two times you wrongfully delayed him.” She switched to a softer tone, looking at Peter apologetically, “Sorry, can you step out for a moment, I need to speak to Mr.Rochester alone.” 

He looked between the two briefly, before shakily scurrying out of the room and collapsing in one of the waiting chairs. Raised voices followed him out, but he could barely hear them over his own racing thoughts. This was all his fault, and now he might have gotten someone fired over one of his mistakes. This was because he had requested his preferred name on his badge, after all, that much was obvious. He realized, almost distantly, that he wasn’t breathing properly, but he couldn’t bring himself to care in the moment. What if he had read the situation wrong, and Ms.Potts was actually going to agree with the guard? She wouldn’t right-

Something was wrong. 

He leapt to his feet and was bursting into Ms.Potts’ office before he was fully aware he was moving. The source of his panic was well founded, as Mr.Rochester was approaching Ms.Potts with a dangerous look on his face. At Peter’s entering, however, he spun and strode towards him.

“You! This is all your fault,  _ Penny!  _ If you hadn’t gone and spread rumours about me, like some entitled little  _ whore _ ,” He grew closer, but for some reason the confidence he normally had in fights was gone. He wasn’t Spider-man, he wasn’t even Peter, he was back to being nothing more than some scared kid. As Rochester brought his hand down on his cheek, he barely felt the sting before somehow he was on the floor, the man still screaming obscenities at him.

Then, as soon as it had started, it was over. Ms.Potts was standing over Rochester, taser in hand and a murderous look on her face. Happy stormed in a moment later, Alex hot on his heels. Happy pulled Rochester out of the room, and Alex ran to Peter’s side, followed closely by Ms.Potts.

“Peter, are you hurt? Can you stand?” Ms.Potts took in his reddened cheek, visually scanning him for injuries as she knelt next to him.

“I.. I’m fine.. he.. was gonna hurt you.. Are you okay Ms.Potts?” He knew, logically, that the woman who apparently kept a taser in her desk, was fine, but his mind was on overdrive. He took Alex’s proffered hand, slightly surprised when he felt himself stumble upon standing. 

“I’m okay Peter, I promise.” Her voice sounded less worried, but she still assisted Alex in escorting him to the couch, where he collapsed gratefully. For some reason, he felt as if he was back in elementary school, having an asthma attack for the first time.  _ Why couldn’t he breathe? His asthma couldn’t be back, he was Spider-Man, he had super powers, he-  _ “Pete, I need you to focus on me, okay? Can you focus on my breathing?” 

“Ms..Potts..?” He looked up at her face, surprised to find it blurry.. was he.. crying? “You.. he was..”

“I’m not injured, Happy, our head of security, took Mr.Rochester away before he could do anything.” Her voice cut through his panic and he realized distantly that she was rubbing circles on his back. “You’re okay, you just need to focus on me. Take a deep breath for me, okay? In.. and out.” She demonstrated patiently, but the task she was asking of him seemed insurmountable, in that moment.

“I.. I can’t..” he shook his head frantically, but did his best to try anyways, he didn’t want to let her down, after all. She talked him through breathing for several more minutes, before he came back to himself fully, wiping at his eyes. “I’m sorry.. sorry..”

“You have nothing to apologize for Peter, that was a scary situation and panicking is completely natural.” Ms.Potts kept rubbing his back, and he realized that at some point he had moved from sitting to half-laying on her lap. He hastily sat up, looking down at his lap awkwardly.

“Sorry I.. I just made everything worse and you probably have meetings and..” He trailed off, feeling a sob hitch in his throat before quickly swallowing it down and looking up finally noticing the two of them were alone, “Um.. uh.. Where’s Alex and..”

“Happy took Mr.Rochester away, and Alex left so we could have some privacy. Don’t worry about my meetings, I have Alex to take care of things, you’re far more important.” She didn’t pull him back into a hug, but set her arm on the couch behind him, inviting him to come closer if he wanted. “Are you feeling better?”

He nodded, although ‘better’ was relative. He really just wanted to sink into the floor and stop existing for a bit, but obviously he couldn’t tell her that. His mind wandered for a moment more before he got to his feet abruptly, pointedly ignoring how he swayed a little at the sudden movement, “I need to get back to work, I didn’t tell my supervisor I was leaving..”   
  


Ms.Potts stood, gently taking him by the shoulders and guiding him back down onto the couch. “FRIDAY already alerted Dr. Kamini that you’ll be taking the day off, you need a break. Do you have a ride home, someone I can call?”

“I.. I take the subway, my Aunt has work until 3 today..”

“Well I don’t feel comfortable sending you home alone, so if it’s alright with you, you can stick around here until your Aunt gets off.” She stood, rummaging in a cupboard, then approached him, a blanket in her arms. “How about you lay down for a little bit? I know panic attacks can be pretty draining.”

“How do you know..” He trailed off, allowing her to drape the blanket on him, immediately relaxing a little more as he pulled it closer around his shoulders. “Thank you..”

“One of my closest friends has panic attacks, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m going to go talk to Alex for a minute, if you’re okay?” Peter nodded mutely, watching her walk out the door. When Pepper returned a few minutes later, he was curled up on the couch, sound asleep. And if she had FRIDAY dim the lights so he could sleep better, well, no one needed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On Pete's panic attack: panic attacks are different for everyone, and everyone recovers differently. This was written off my own experiences, and isn't an accurate description of how panic attacks manifest for everyone. If you're struggling with a situation similar to Pete's please tell someone you trust, no one deserves to be harassed, for any reason. Stay safe - Fairin


	5. Chapter 5

The sound of murmuring pulled Peter from his much needed rest, and the darkened room disoriented him for a moment as he sat up. He pieced together that he was still in Ms.Potts’ office, and the voices he was hearing were Ms.Potts and... his aunt? He tilted his head, focusing his hearing on the conversation.

“..Thank you again, for letting him stay with you until I got off shift, Ms. Potts. I came as soon as I could, but unfortunately there was no one available to cover for me.”

“It was no problem, really. I’m just glad I was able to help him, panic attacks can be scary, especially for someone as young as him. If you don’t mind, does this kind of thing happen often for him?” 

“Not that I know of, no, although he did suffer a few after his Uncle died. He never really talked about them much, though...” 

Peter tuned the two out after that, not wanting to hear anymore. He didn’t want to know how much his aunt worried, it would only make him feel that much guiltier. He stood, folding the blanket Ms.Potts had loaned him and setting it on the couch before making his way to the door, pulling it open. 

May immediately spotted him and rushed over, wrapping him in a hug. “Hey, I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it sooner, you know how understaffed we are.” He leaned into her touch for a moment, before pulling away.

“It’s okay May, really.” He turned to Ms.Potts sheepishly, not sure of what he should say. “Um, thank you Ms.Potts... sorry..”

“Hey, no apologizing Peter, you did nothing wrong, okay? Promise. Now make sure you get home safe and get some more rest, okay?” She smiled warmly at him, before closing the gap and wrapping him in a brief hug. “If anything happens like this again, promise you’ll tell someone, okay?”

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He waited as May and Ms.Potts exchanged a few parting words, then followed his aunt out. 

On the drive home, May glanced over at Peter, “You know you can talk to me about these things, right? I promise I won’t get mad.”

He squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, fiddling with the seat belt strap a little before answering, “I guess... I just, didn’t think it was that big of a deal? I mean I get misgendered all the time, May. Sure, he was a little... creepy? About it, but he seemed like he was just doing his job... He didn’t really do anything that weird before today, is all..” Peter trailed off, not looking at his aunt. He knew that she tried to understand him to the best of her ability, and he was grateful, yeah, but she didn’t have to live in a world that constantly called into question her very identity as a person. She wasn’t purposefully ignorant, but more so under the blissful umbrella of ignorance carried by all those who didn’t walk in the rain of hatred. 

“Look, Pete... I know I can’t understand what you’re going through, but someone misgendering you repeatedly is not okay. I get that you face it more than either of us would like, but you do have the right to speak up and defend yourself, okay? Especially in a work environment, where you’re going to be seeing the same people multiple times. Just... I love you and I don’t want you to get hurt, okay?” She sighed, glancing over him for a moment when he didn’t respond, “I know we never really talked about it, but you can come to me if you’re having panic attacks again, you know that right?”

“I... I know May... it hasn’t... I mean, this is the first time in a while,” he fumbled for words, trying to explain why he reacted the way he did, but... no, no, he couldn’t... just think of something..,”Just... he... it reminded me of that night... is all..” 

“Oh sweetie... I’m sorry..” She trailed off, silence falling over the car as the two were lost in their respective thoughts; of a man, lost to a cruel world, and a child’s innocence, stolen away.

* * *

Spider-Man swung out into Queens later that night, his heart weighing heavily in his chest. He was frustrated, angry even. He wasn’t really sure  _ why _ , but he knew that he needed an outlet, and luckily for him there were plenty of criminals out at this time of night. He knew that, logically, he shouldn’t be glad about this, but crime would happen regardless, so he might as well use his pent up energy to put a stop to it. He paused on the edge of a roof-top, tilting his head to the side to listen for any trouble. 

Soon enough, a panicked voice met his ears and he took off, swinging long arcs to build momentum. He did a low arc to slow himself, before dropping in between a guy and a young girl, quickly spinning to push the man out in front of him, and act as a shield to the girl. 

“Seriously man? A kid?” He let out a low growl, the lenses in his mask narrowing on the perpetrator. He tilted his head, watching the man squirm under his gaze in shock for a moment before the man decided it would be a wise idea to try to run. Huh, maybe Daredevil was onto something with the intimidation shtick. He webbed the man up before he had the chance to get far before redirecting his attention to the girl.

He turned around, softening his posture and allowing his eyes to regain their natural bug-like state, crouching down to look at the girl, who looked unharmed, if mildly traumatized. “Hey, my name’s Spider-Man. Is it okay if I hold your hand?”

She hesitated for a moment, before making her mind up and nodding, “Okay, Spider-Man. I know your name and you helped me, so that makes us not-strangers anymore. Oh! My name’s Abby! There, now I’m not a stranger too.” 

She took his offered hand and he escorted her back to a safer street, shielding the man from view as they passed him. Abby kept up a constant flow of words, going on about everything from her age (8 and a half) to her favorite ice cream flavor (strawberry with sprinkles, duh). He managed to get her to a police officer, who got in contact with her moms. 

Once he was sure the girl was in good hands, he melted away into the shadows and quickly found a couple more muggers, a few petty thieves, and a good handful of rowdy drunks, before he decided to call it a night. He made sure to backtrack his movements before finding a safe place to change. He no longer went home in the spider suit, after an over-curious journalist had gotten a bit too close to home. Safely disguised as Peter Parker, he headed home for the night. 

* * *

The next day started as uneventful as the last- getting pushed around at school, and school work that was far too boring to focus properly on. Peter finally escaped and headed to his internship, but not before making a quick detour to the Jav top to pick up his and Dr.Kamini’s drinks.

After stopping by Dr.Kamini’s office, he made his way to his first assignment of the day; helping the college interns log and document all of the current experiments and chemicals currently in use in their department. An error had been made in the last report to the accounting department, and their numbers had been off by 0.08%, which doesn’t seem like much, but when the budget is in the hundreds of thousands, even one missing dollar tends to grow exponentially. The error couldn’t be found in any of their paperwork, which meant the whole floor was responsible for reassessing stock and material cost, much to everyone's joy.

After several mind-numbing hours of hard work, Peter finally had made it through his pile for the day and- 

**_Something was wrong._ **

**_He rushed forward and-_ **

**_CRASH._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To returning readers: Apologies for the impromptu hiatus, and thank you for waiting. I've added a note to the beginning of chapter one, but basically Pete's been Spider-Man for six months at the start of this fic.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: description of injuries and treatment

Dr. Bruce Banner was on his way to meet with Dr. Kamini when FRIDAY spoke up. “Dr. Banner, there’s been an accident in lab R-15. From my preliminary scans there are only two injured. Medical has been informed, but you’re the closest individual with medical training.”

“Right, um, on my way FRIDAY.” Bruce turned off the path he was on, diverting to the research labs. “Severity of the injuries?”

“Minor bruising, several superficial lacerations, and a broken wrist.” 

He thanked her, quickly arriving at his destination and assessing the situation. The two who were injured were laying on the floor underneath a shelf that had toppled, shards of glass from what appeared to be empty beakers dusting the floor around them. Both appeared conscious, luckily.

“Someone help me get this off of them, and be mindful of the glass.” Bruce strode forward, taking charge of the situation, something he wasn’t usually comfortable with, but he, of all people, knew how to stay calm when it mattered. The few other interns around snapped out their haze and carefully lifted the shelf back up, and Bruce had to swallow down a bit of green once he got a good look at the kid,  _ a kid  _ , who appeared to have taken the brunt of the injuries. The other intern appeared mostly unharmed, if a bit dazed. He knelt next to the younger of the pair, who looked at him briefly before his eyes widened.

“You’re Dr.Banner! Like, I loved your latest paper and like..” He made a move to get up, the motion causing him to squeak in pain, glancing at his arm. “Oh.. right..”

Bruce stifled a smile at the kid’s rambling, reaching out a hand. “Do you think you can stand? I know it hurts, but we need to get you two separated so you can get that looked at, okay?” The kid gulped but managed to get to his feet with his help, stumbling a little. He gently rested a guiding arm on the boy, leading him to the door, but not before glancing back and making sure the other person got to medical as well. He headed to the elevators as the kid continued babbling about research papers, cutting him off once they had entered the elevator. “I um, appreciate the praise kid, really but, uh, we need to get you to medical.. um I apologize, I never asked your name?”

“Oh! I’m Peter, uh Parker, I mean, Peter Parker. I work with Dr.Kamini, and..” Something clicked and a look of fear flashed across the boy’s face, and he backed against the wall of the elevator, his breath picking up slightly, “I can’t.. I can’t do.. no hospitals.. please..” His eyes flitted to the elevator door, as if willing it to open, but as they continued moving he sank down in the corner, obviously trying and failing to hold off a panic attack. 

Bruce wasn’t sure why the kid was reacting this way, but he knew he wasn’t going to get him to medical half-panicked. “FRIDAY, stop the elevator, please.” He knelt down again, trying to figure out what to do before he caught sight of blood on the boy’s forehead.. FRIDAY hadn’t mentioned any head wounds. “Deep breaths, um, it was Peter, right?” The boy nodded, but didn’t look at him, “Look I can’t.. Your wrist needs to be set, it’s broken.” He tried to keep the tremor out of his voice, the last thing he needed to do here was freak out. He couldn’t afford to. 

“I..” Peter spoke softly, his voice breathless and shaky, “I know I just.. I can’t.. do doctors..” His eyes widened for a second, “Um, not you! I..”

“It’s okay, just try to keep breathing, okay?”  _ Keep breathing, like that’s going to help the child with a broken wrist, right.  _ He took a deep breath himself, glancing at the boy’s injuries the best he could with him in such a cramped position. FRIDAY had mentioned lacerations, hadn’t she? The other intern hadn’t had any but..  _ Oh. Interesting.  _ “Look um, how about we stop by my lab first, I’ll look you over and we can go from there.. okay?”

Peter stayed silent for a moment before nodding, “Okay..” 

“Okay, FRIDAY, my floor. Keep this quiet, for now. If anyone asks, Peter’s being treated for his injuries, just don’t say where.” 

“Understood, Dr.Banner. I do advise getting Peter’s wrist treated as quickly as possible, however.”

“I know FRIDAY, thank you.” 

* * *

Peter followed Dr.Banner off of the elevator in a daze, still trying to process what had happened, barely paying attention as he was steered into a chair. He wasn’t sure why the doctor had relented and let him delay going to medical, but it gave Peter time to get a plan together. He couldn’t very well swing out of the tower on a broken arm, not to mention his web shooters were stored safely at home. Plus, he may be outed as having abilities, but, as long as they didn’t take his blood they couldn’t connect him to Spider-Man, he was just a kid.. 

“Peter!” He blinked, finding Dr.Banner looking at him, concern on his face.

“Sorry, I.. I’m okay, really.”

“Peter, I get.. Just, let me look at your wrist, at least?” Peter obeyed, holding out his right arm to be examined, trying not to wince as the doctor gently felt it. After what felt like an eternity the man stopped, and Peter pulled the offending limb back to his chest. “Look um.. You have a healing factor, I can tell that much.” Dr.Banner backed away as Peter felt his breath pick up again, holding his hands out in a placating gesture that did little to quell his worries. “I’m not going to turn you in, I promise. You still need to get your wrist set though, before it heals wrong.”

Peter swallowed nervously, trying to calm his racing mind.  _ He just knows you have healing, that’s it. No reason to bring up Spider-Man.  _ He took in Dr. Banner, feeling a wave of guilt crash over him, the doctor was going out of his way to help and all Peter could do was panic. He took a deep breath, glad he had prepared in case May ever caught him with a suspicious injury that disappeared overnight. “I.. you promise? Just.. people like me.. we aren’t liked very much Dr. Banner and I.. I don’t wanna get sent away.. I can’t..” 

“It’s okay, no one’s going to send you away.” Dr. Banner smiled softly at him, “Does anyone else know? I.. assume not from the way you reacted but..”

“..No one knows” Peter confirmed, fidgeting nervously in the chair.

“Okay.. that’s okay. We need to get your arm set and put in a cast before it heals..” The doctor muttered the last part to himself, before looking at Peter, “I don’t have any local anesthetic in my lab, or any other pain killers, or anything to put on your wrist, so I can go get them or I can get someone to bring them up, whatever you’re more comfortable with.” 

“Um.. pain meds don’t work anymore, I metabolize them too fast now..” He looked down, trying to ignore the throbbing in his wrist, which had been increasing steadily ever since the adrenaline wore off. “Just.. set it and it’ll heal fine on it’s own, I can handle it.” 

“It’ll still need a brace of some kind, even if you heal fast.” Dr. Banner ran a hand through his hair, glancing at Peter, “Are you sure about the pain medication?” Peter nodded, and Dr.Banner opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted as Ms.Potts burst into the room, a mix between worried and ..angry?

She gave a strained smile to Peter before turning to face the doctor. “Hallway, now. Peter, hun, just wait here for a minute, okay?” She pulled Dr.Banner out of the room before he could get a word in edgewise, and Peter blinked dumbly for a moment before coming to his senses and trying to listen to the conversation.

“..don’t just keep an injured child from medical, no matter if he was having a panic attack, Bruce.” Ms.Potts’ voice was hushed, but it was obvious she was pissed. “Look, we need to get him downstairs, FRIDAY told me about the broken wrist.”

“Pepper I..”

“You can explain later, that kid is..” 

“He’s a mutant.” Dr. Banner interrupted her, “He has a healing factor, I’m not sure what else, just. Believe me Pepper, I didn’t have any other choice, you know how people would..”

“Peter’s a.. FRIDAY? Is that true?” 

“Upon initial scan 43 minutes ago, Peter had several minor bruises and lacerations, in addition to a broken wrist. As of right now, Peter has no signs of bruising, and the majority of the lacerations have healed.” She paused for a moment, sounding almost concerned, “His injuries appear to have healed around several shards of glass, and the break is healing as we speak, all of which confirm some form of advanced healing.”

There was a moment of silence, before Ms. Potts spoke, “FRIDAY, lock all data concerning Peter’s injuries, from the moment of injury and going forward indefinitely until stated otherwise. Override ‘Rescue’. You can inform medical and Dr.Kamini that Peter has been treated, but say nothing otherwise.” 

“Done.” 

“Thank you.” Peter heard her let out a shaky sigh, but he couldn’t help but feel relieved. He wasn’t sure how she would react, not that he was planning on telling her he was.. different. Peter trusted Dr.Banner because in a way they were similar, but he had to admit, it was good to know that he had someone on his side who could keep his secret from ever getting out. He supposed he should thank her.. but then they would know he had heard a conversation that was done in angry whispers in a hallway, outside a closed door.. yeah, never mind on that then. 

He tuned back into the conversation, wondering what was taking them when he heard Ms.Potts.. sniffle? 

“..sorry Bruce, Peter is just such a sweet kid, I hate to put him through any more pain.” She cleared her throat, “Go gather what you need from medical, don’t bring up his name. I’ll sit with him and explain everything, I’ve helped him with.. a difficult situation before, so hopefully he trusts me enough to open up a bit more.”

“I can do that, yeah..” He mumbled something else that Peter didn’t quite catch, before the pair split up. Peter relaxed back into his chair, trying to look casual as Ms. Potts re-entered the room.

“How are you holding up Peter?” She took a seat next to him, her face not betraying the emotions he had heard moments before.

“M’okay, I guess. Nothing I can’t handle.” 

“You shouldn’t have to ‘handle’ a broken bone with no pain killers, Peter. Bruce told me what happened, and about your.. situation. I understand why you felt you couldn’t tell anyone, but I promise, we won’t tell anyone unless you allow it, okay?” He nodded, staring at his shoes as Ms.Potts continued, “Is there anything else about your powers that we would need to know? Whatever you say stays between Bruce, FRIDAY and me, no one else will know unless you say so.”

“Thank you..” Peter swallowed nervously, trying to figure out how much he wanted to reveal, “I heal fast.. Um, but you know that already. I also have a heightened metabolism, but that’s more annoying than anything.. I can’t take any drugs that I know of, well like, I can take them, but they’d just go right through me or I’d reject them, at least, I’m assuming that applies to everything, not just run of the mill headache stuff.. I’m also, like, always hungry, which is annoying cause like, I can only eat so much cause May- not that it’s her fault I-” He cut off, refusing to look up despite the panic building back up in his chest. He could tell her more, about his senses, how scared he was the first time he got stuck to something and  _ couldn’t unstick and how he knew every time someone near him was in danger but he couldn’t always protect them, couldn’t always protect himself but-  _

He gasped in air as he felt gentle arms wrap around him in a hug, instinctively burying himself in Ms.Potts warm embrace, despite the way the movement made his wrist complain. Neither spoke, the moment too fragile to interrupt with words. Eventually she pulled away and he looked up to see that Dr.Banner had somehow come in without him noticing. 

“Sorry, but we don’t know what timeline we’re working on here, and..” The doctor set the brace he was carrying down next to a few other supplies before putting on gloves. 

“It’s okay.. It’ll hurt worse if we wait..” Peter put his arm on the table next to him, swallowing down the lump in his throat. 

“Um.. I’m going to need you to bite on this for me, I.. I don’t want you to hurt yourself when I set the break.” Dr.Banner handed him a wadded up cloth, looking apologetic. “And Pepper, I’m going to need you to help hold his arm still.” 

She nodded, taking her place, “You can do this Peter, just be strong for me okay?” 

He nodded mutely, biting down on the gag. Peter forced himself to stay still, knowing if he jerked even a little he could hurt both Dr.Banner and Ms.Potts.

“Okay, I’m going to count from three.” The doctor placed his hands on his arm, “3.. 2..” Peter screamed into the gag, his eyes welling up slightly as the bone was moved back into its proper place. Dr.Banner moved Peter’s arm gently into the brace, a strained smile on his face, and Ms.Potts gently rubbed his upper arm.

“Hardest part over, you did really well.” Dr.Banner took a deep breath, a little green visible in his eyes. “Just gotta get the glass out of your other arm.”

Peter spit the gag out, taking a deep breath, “Thank you.. I really didn’t want to have to set that by myself.. “  _ Not that he hadn’t before, but they didn’t need to know that.  _

“Peter..” Ms.Potts’ voice took a protective edge to it, “You should never have to treat your own injuries, I don’t care how fast you heal.”

“They don’t exactly have doctors for.. people like me.”  _ Or people like Spider-Man.  _

“Actually..” Dr. Banner spoke up, “While there isn’t a specific hospital, um, there is a school that has the resources to help kids like you. It’s called Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, everyone there is just like you, struggling with abilities they don’t understand.”

“Oh..” Peter wasn’t really sure how to respond. He had heard of the school before- they had helped Spider-Man relocate a young mutant early on, and had offered him haven. It had never crossed his mind to enroll there, however. It would be selfish to deprive New York of Spider-Man just because Peter Parker got scared sometimes.

“We can look into it later, hm?” Ms. Potts broke the awkward tension, “Let’s just finish getting you patched up for now, okay?” 

Peter nodded absently, and Dr.Banner took the cue to start carefully extracting the glass from his arm. The room fell into silence once more, only broken by the occasional ting of glass on metal.


	7. Chapter 7

“I can eat when I get home, really.” Peter tried to convince Ms.Potts again, glancing nervously around her apartment. “It’s not a big deal…”

“You’re staying for lunch, Peter.” She kept walking, leading him to the kitchen, “You need to eat to heal, and you won’t be able to cook well with your wrist in a brace.”

“Okay…”

“Sandwiches okay?” 

“Yeah, um, do you need any help or?” She gave him a look and he sat down at the counter awkwardly. “Um… thank you for all of… you know…”

“You’re welcome, but there really is no need to thank me, Peter.” Ms.Potts hesitated uncharacteristically, stopping what she was doing for a moment. “You know, I had ...abilities once. It was nothing like your powers, and it was reversible but… it was still terrifying.” She shuddered briefly before continuing, “I don’t know what you’re going through, but I get how scary it can be. Just know I’m here for you, okay?”

“I… I didn’t know that um… you were…” He trailed off, “Thank you for telling me Ms.Potts.”

“Well the press only pretends to know everything.” She smiled teasingly, resuming cooking, “And you can call me Pepper.”

“Okay” Peter lapsed back into silence as Pepper placed food in front of him, digging into it gratefully. She sat next to him with her own sandwich, taking a bite.

“I was thinking, how would you like to meet Wanda?” 

“Who?”

“You might know her as the Scarlet Witch, but she’s around your age. I was thinking about introducing you two eventually, because you two have a lot in common. After this morning… even more so.” As if sensing his hesitation, she continued, “She lost her brother fairly recently and I think it’d be good for her to have a friend her age.”

“I wouldn’t mind… I mean, I don’t know if she’d want to…” Peter picked at the remnants of his sandwich, “Would she know… I mean, would you tell her that I… you know?” 

“Not if you don’t want me to. I can introduce you as her tutor, which is what I was debating initially. I do think it’d be good for you to talk to someone about it, though.”

“You can tell her” Peter blurted out, before he could change his mind. “She’s an Avenger, I trust her.”

“Do you need to be home by a certain time today? I know it’s a bit sudden, but there’s no use in waiting.” 

“Um, no, May’s out of town for the weekend actually…” 

“She’s…” Pepper sighed, “Peter, I can’t send you home alone injured.”

“It’ll be healed by tomorrow… I’ll be fine.”

“It’ll be…” She shook her head, “Look, how about you stay over? I have a spare room, and I’m sure May would agree.” 

“I uh…” Peter blinked, taken aback slightly. “I’d have to call and let her know…”

“Of course.” Pepper looked relieved. “How about you go call your aunt and I’ll go call Wanda?”

“What about the dishes…?” He glanced at his now empty plate, not wanting to be rude.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay, um thank you Ms- Pepper.” He gave her a quick smile before stepping to the side to call his aunt. After taking a quick breather, he fished his phone out of pocket and dialed the familiar number. 

* * *

Peter paced Pepper’s living room nervously, wondering if Wanda would like him. The whole thing had happened so quickly. He hadn’t fully processed what he had agreed to until after he called his aunt, and now it was all hitting him like a brick. He was going to meet  _ an Avenger,  _ and like, not any Avenger either, one his age. Technically he had met an Avenger before, but both he and Dr.Banner were a bit preoccupied at the time.

On top of that, Peter had been more or less told that he was staying over at Ms.Potts’. He knew it was because he had been injured, but the prospect still had him reeling. He turned sharply on his heel again, before stopping abruptly as voices filtered into the room. He scrambled back over to the sofa and plopped down just as they entered - Pepper had told him to rest and he didn’t want to make her mad.

“Did you manage to get some rest Peter?” Pepper spoke first, but her words barely registered as he took in the people behind her, Wanda, who looked much younger in person, and  _ the actual Black Widow.  _ “Peter?”

“Sorry, yes um, thank you Ms.-Pepper,” He tried to calm down, standing to greet them, “I just uh, wasn’t expecting um..”

“No, I'm sorry, I should have warned you Nat was coming.” Pepper smiled apologetically. “Anyways, Peter, meet Wanda and Natasha.”

“Nice to meet you both..” Peter waved shyly, trying not to squirm under the sudden attention.

“Nice to meet you.” 

“Likewise,” Natasha turned to Pepper, “We should get going, we had that matter to discuss.”

“Right, then, if you need anything just tell FRIDAY and she’ll get a hold of me, okay?” She looked to Peter for confirmation, then gave him a small smile, following Natasha out of the room.

Both of the teens stood there for a moment awkwardly before Wanda finally spoke up, “You are not afraid of me.”

“Why would I be afraid of you?” He looked at her curiously, “I mean, you’re not much older then me, right? And like, you’re an Avenger, right?”

“So I’ve been told.” Wanda smiled bitterly, “They do not see me, just my powers.”

“Well that’s wrong. I mean, it’s wrong that they think that, not that the Avengers are wrong, just that they shouldn’t think like that, I mean, they can think like that, but you’re your own person and...” Peter trailed off, turning a bit red. “Sorry I uh.. tend to ramble…”

“No, thank you…” She looked at him, her smile shadowed by the sadness in her eyes. “My brother always saw the best in people too.”

“Did he..”

“A few months ago.”

“I’m sorry, losing someone close is never easy..” Peter shoved down the memories bubbling to the surface, “Um, Ms.Potts, um, Pepper I mean, she said there was hot chocolate and stuff in the kitchen and we could… I mean, if you want..”

“That sounds nice.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you’ve done this.” Peter looked at Wanda, trying to keep a grin off his face.

“I can’t believe your accent is so bad.” 

“The bad accent makes it better.” 

“Sure, Jan.” 

Wanda grinned at Peter, working on her second cup of hot cocoa. She hated to interrupt the fun, she hadn’t laughed this hard since she was a kid. But, Pepper had asked her here to help Peter, and laughter could only solve so much. “So um, Peter?”

“Hm?” 

“Pepper told me that you… were like me.” She swallowed, not sure how to phrase it, “Only you were new to your powers?”

“I…” Peter froze, the air around him filling with nervousness and fear. “Right I um, forgot that I told her to tell you.. uh..”

“You are not used to others knowing.” She gave him a soft smile, “I apologize for springing this on you, you do not have to tell me.”

“I don’t mind just uh.. what did she tell you? I don’t want to repeat stuff you know already…”

“Just that you had abilities, and that you seemed unsure of them and scared of people knowing.” Wanda left out the fact that Pepper had referred to him as a mutant, and how shaken she had been. She had offered to tell Wanda more, but both agreed that it would be better coming from Peter.

“I… I’m like you.” Peter spoke softly, “I wasn’t born like this. I… there was.. an accident, I guess. I was sick, like, so sick I thought.. but I got better, and suddenly…”

“You did not know who you were anymore.” 

He nodded, “And I couldn’t tell anyone, cause how do you explain something like that?”

“I cannot imagine.” She swallowed, “I volunteered to be tested on. It was war, we… my brother and I, we just wanted to do our part. I cannot imagine what it would be like if I had to go through that alone.”

“Well neither of us is alone now. I mean, just.. if you ever need to talk or anything..” 

“The same goes for you.” Wanda finished her drink, “I am curious though, how did Pepper find out?”

“Oh, um, there was an accident in the lab I was working in..” Peter stopped, looking at her curiously, “You’re telepathic, right?”

“I do not read people’s minds without permission.” 

“I know, you’d never do that but like, I could just show you what happened? It’d be faster than explaining it all… But like, only if you’re comfortable…”

“You would trust me to look at your memories?” Wanda looked at him, shocked. She knew he wasn’t afraid of her, which she still was struggling to grasp, but to trust her with something like that after only a few hours? “I am new to… ‘mind reading’, I could see something you do not want me to if you lose focus.”

“Well then think of it as practice.” Peter smiled at her, his mind obviously made up. 

“If you are sure…” She placed her hands gently on his temples, her eyes glowing red, “Focus on what you want to show me.”

_ Images flowed past her, blurring together. After a moment, a crash. Pain. Dr.Banner. Panic, fear. Something else, slipped past too fast to grab. A lab. Pepper. Arguing clear as day a room over. Brief comfort. Medical equipment. Fear, but not for himself. Hands, grasping his wrist. PAI- _

Wanda jerked back in shock, nearly falling off her chair. “You…”

“I’m sorry oh my god are you alright Wanda, I didn’t know you’d be able to feel it, I’m sorry I didn’t know..” Peter looked at her, eyes blown wide with panic. “Are you okay?”

“Am I..” Wanda instinctively pulled Peter into a hug, muttering in Sokovian under her breath. “Peter, you had to experience that twice because of me.”

“It’s okay..” He seemed to believe it, too, despite the fact he was trembling like a leaf in her arms. “Been through worse.”

“You..” She let out a soft sigh, not letting go. “If you ever get hurt like that again, you tell me, okay? I cannot stop the pain, but I can help you sleep through the worst parts.”

“But then won’t you feel it..?” 

“Not like that.. Memories, those are through your eyes.” She released him from the hug, rubbing her wrist subconsciously. “If I were helping you sleep, I do not think the same connection would exist.”

“Oh..”

“You.. were scared, but not for yourself. Why?” 

“I.. I’m strong, I don’t know how much.. but..” He picked up the metal spoon they had used for the cocoa, crumpling it in his fist like a piece of tissue. “If I twitched, they both would have been injured far worse than I was.”

“But you did not.” Wanda gently took the spoon from him, lifting and twisting it with red wisps. The spoon started to straighten, before snapping cleanly in half. “I cannot say the same for myself.”

Peter pulled her back into a hug, neither speaking for a moment. Eventually the uncomfortable position took its toll and the pair broke apart, neither mentioning the tears obvious in both of their eyes. 


End file.
